


whispers in the light

by nekrateholic



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Fluff, M/M, and whatever jihoon and wonwoo's ship name is, side verkwan - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 09:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13291560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekrateholic/pseuds/nekrateholic
Summary: In a world where you can hear your soulmate's thoughts, Mingyu has two and whole lot ofchaos.





	whispers in the light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bittersweetwhimsy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bittersweetwhimsy/gifts).



> dear recipient,  
> i had so much fun writing for you! honestly, i'd write all seven of your prompts if i had the chance ♡♡  
> this ended up more of a mess than i expected it to, for which i apologize but i hope it makes you smile anyway ♡
> 
>  
> 
> the title is from skillet's whispers in the dark, except light, because this is emo but not _that_ emo

Seungkwan has been staring intensely at something behind Mingyu for the last ten minutes. It’s not necessarily an unusual thing - Seungkwan is known for being the worst gossiper in their friend group (precisely why he and Mingyu are friends). It’s not unusual, no, except they are in a freaking _corner booth._  What’s behind Mingyu is a _wall._

“Dude,” Mingyu says with feeling.

Seungkwan’s eyes finally snap back to his. “Sorry, I’ve been trying to talk Hansol out of wearing this tremendously hideous orange hoodie in public. Again.”

Mingyu nods sympathetically. “I remember it. He uploaded pics on instagram.”

Seungkwan shudders. “Don’t remind me. I had to bribe Jeonghan hyung to find a guy to hack Hansol’s account and delete the evidence. It was terrible.”

“So how’s it going now?” Mingyu asks. Honestly, he hopes Seungkwan fails because Hansol’s wardrobe choices are always hilarious. Telling Seungkwan that would be like begging for imminent death, however, so he keeps his mouth shut like a good friend.

“I threatened him with no sex for a week.” Seungkwan replies, voice flat.

Mingyu laughs. “Are you trying to punish him or yourself?”

Seungkwan glares. “I don’t know what you’re implying but whatever it is it’s grossly untrue and I am disappointed in you.”

Mingyu is about to reply, something smart and funny, surely, except his brain explodes with _hit me baby one more tiiiiiiiiiiiime_.

He blinks and Seungkwan’s glare gives way to slight worry at the probably vacant look in Mingyu’s eyes. “Your soulmate again?”

“Yeah,” Mingyu says the last note still ringing in his brain. He’s pretty sure the song doesn’t have a note that high or long. “I think it’s safe to say they’re a Britney fan now.”

“Wait, the Korean or the Chinese one?”

Mingyu thinks about it. “The Korean,” he says, with confidence. All the textbooks say that mind voices are the same, you can’t tell them apart by the voice alone because they essentially do not have a sound and you get the illusion of that _after_ you actually hear your soulmate speak. Still, Mingyu is one hundred percent sure he could tell his soulmates apart even if they spoke the same language. The Korean one’s thoughts are just… _louder_.

“I still can’t believe you have two soulmates.” Seungkwan sighs. “I could barely stand Hansol before we met and I gained the power to tell him to shut the fuck up. I can’t imagine that doubled.”

“They’re not so bad,” Mingyu hurries to defend. They might be, because Seungkwan likes to exaggerate and Mingyu’s Korean soulmate can be really fucking annoying sometimes, but they’re _his_ soulmates, both of them. “Actually I’m pretty sure the Chinese one has been trying to learn some Korean for a while now. I keep getting flashes of random words in Korean followed by their Chinese translations. And before you ask,” he adds, because Seungkwan has already opened his mouth to interrupt, “I know they were the translations because I looked up the words.”

“That’s cute,” Seungkwan says, “in that awful cheesy romantic way.”

Mingyu arches an eyebrow. Seungkwan has cried when they marathoned High School Musical. Multiple times.

“Shut up,” he grits, even though Mingyu hasn’t said anything.

*

That night, Mingyu hears the first actual sentence he can understand from his Chinese soulmate. The grammar is good, even if the pronunciation is a bit weird. The sentence is: _I regret everything I’ve done in my past life that has led me to have soulmates who never shut the fuck up in this godforsaken language_.

*

The soulmate link is a fickle thing, Mingyu learns early on. It gives you flashes of your soulmate’s thoughts - random things at random times which none of you can control. It turns stable when you meet them, with the bonus that you also gain the ability to actually talk through the link and filter what and when you want to hear. You have to _meet_ them though, with acknowledgement from both sides. It’s the small font in every textbook, but Mingyu has spent enough time around Jihoon to be very aware of that tiny detail.

His soulmates learn about it at around the same time, or at least the Korean one does, because they keep having these cute fantasies about a girl and a family and a white picket fence. Mingyu feels a little bad that he’s not a girl, at least until he hits puberty and his soulmate’s fantasies gradually transition from family friendly to very rated elaborate scenes involving Rain.

The Chinese part of their link is an enigma, however. Mingyu’s family couldn’t quite afford extensive Chinese lessons when he was little and now he’s an overstressed uni student juggling a million classes, including Chinese. He’s not that bad at it anymore but he’s not great either, and he ends up having to google translate whatever he hears quite often. More often than not he manages to butcher the phrase enough that when google translate actually picks up the words it spews out things like “cow very green”.

The beginner phrases they learn in class though, things like _Hello_ and _I hope you’re doing well_ and _I wish we’d meet soon_ \- them Mingyu learns to pronounce perfectly and tries to think them very hard sometimes, hoping his soulmate doesn’t feel too alienated by being mind-linked to foreigners who don’t speak their language. (Sometimes, late at night, he can hear his other soulmate doing the same.)

*

“Dude.” Mingyu stares at Jihoon, who is half hiding behind the only house plant in the university library, located right next to Mingyu’s desk.

Jihoon glares at him, mutters, “ _Shhhhhhhh._ ”

Two seconds later, when Jeon Wonwoo walks through the double doors of the library, Mingyu barely keeps himself from laughing. Jihoon would probably murder him in cold blood if he did.

When Wonwoo is well out of earshot, Jihoon slowly slides out from behind the plant, dramatically dropping his head on the wooden desk.

“I don't get it,” Mingyu says aloud and this time. Jihoon grunts in acknowledgement. “You know he’s your soulmate, why the fuck won't you go talk to him?”

“You’re right, you don't get it.” Jihoon mumbles, voice muffled by the desk. “What am I supposed to do, go up to him and be all _yo, I kinda stalk your pretentious book blog because I think you're hot but I keep getting flashes of your next posts before you publish them so I think we might be soulmates._ ”

Mingyu blinks at him. “Yes? Okay, maybe leave out the hot part for later.”

Jihoon looks up just to glare at him, then drops his head back - in his hands this time. He rubs his temples. “Just please go get me the book I came for, please.”

“I’m not your slave, you know,” mutters Mingyu, but gets up anyway.

*

One memorable History of the World (morning) lecture, Mingyu gets a whole stream of thoughts, all from the soulmate he can actually understand. They are probably going solo, Mingyu thinks, or they just really like thinking about how they maybe want to be fucked front of a mirror, all in explicit detail. It’s a good thing to know your soulmate’s kinks without needing the awkward conversations, but that little fact does nothing to make Mingyu focus on his professor’s words. He tries very hard to think things like, _please stop_ and _you’re ruining my grades_ but by the way the stream of thoughts switches to neck biting next, Mingyu is unsuccessful.

*

The underpass leading to the metro station Mingyu’s currently hurrying towards is a big open space partly turned into an exhibition hall, with two giant glass domes that stick out at the plaza above ground. It’s beautiful in the late afternoon when the sun is dull enough to not make the shadows of the metal beams intersecting the glass too obvious but still bright enough to forget you’re underground for a second.

Mingyu sees none of this right now, however, even if there’s a constant buzz in his brain, a need to look around, to see how _pretty_ it all is. He gets a stray thought of _oh, pretty_ in perfect Korean. He has to fly to avoid being late to class, but for some reason he still stops right under one of the domes, looks up and - there’s someone, a boy? He has his hands on the glass above ground, looking curiously down. It’s a little louder, a little clearer when Mingyu hears the _ooh, that guy is hot_ whispered in his brain. He blinks up, but the boy is gone.

He turns around and runs right back to where he came from, gets out of the underpass, but the boy is nowhere in sight. He circles the plaza a few times, then plops down on a bench in the nearby park. He does the best thing he can think of - he texts Jihoon.

_i think i just saw one of my soulmates_

It takes Jihoon fifteen minutes to reply, _congrats_ , then one more to follow it up with, _wait saw? not ~met~?_

Mingyu sighs. _yup. officially part of the soulmate losers club_

 _fuck you_ , Jihoon replies immediately, like he expected it. He probably did.

Needless to say, Mingyu never gets to class.

*

“But what if,” Hansol slurs over the rim of his second glass of soju, “he hears you thinking about him?”

The table quiets. Jihoon, who the question was directed at, narrows his eyes so much his pupils disappear off his face. “I’m good at distracting myself.”

Seungkwan stares holes into the side of Hansol’s head, most likely frantically thinking _SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!_

Hansol shrugs and downs the rest of his soju.

The thing is, they’ve all laughed about the (lack of) logic behind Jihoon’s unwillingness to go talk to Wonwoo - behind Jihoon’s back, like sensible people. As much as Jihoon demands he can distract himself - he can’t control the soulmate link, no one can, and there is a huge possibility Wonwoo already knows what Jihoon is trying so desperately to hide. Everything from the fact that he knows about them being soulmates to Jihoon’s questionable browser history that Mingyu had the misfortune of seeing once.

The thing is, no one has mentioned it to Jihoon yet, because Jihoon is a dude that likes his denials. (And they’re all secretly scared of him.)

“Cheers to distraction?” Mingyu says, raising his glass. Just then, a voice that is not his whispers, _I wonder if I’ll see the hot dude again if I go back to the plaza_ in his brain.

He thinks _yes yes yes yes yes just say when please_ so hard that he clinks Seungkwan’s forehead instead of his glass. Hansol laughs so hard he chokes, then proceeds to throw up the pizza they ate earlier all over Jihoon’s shoes.

There’s a lot of yelling and a bit of swearing and Mingyu is trying his best to keep Jihoon from annihilating Hansol, but in the midst of it all, he still hears a quiet thought, something not his that sounds weirdly a lot like _oh my god_ , except in that tone Mingyu has learned to recognize as Chinese speech.

*

There’s been a lot more awkward Korean from the Chinese side of his soulmate link lately Mingyu keeps getting flashes of things like _Excuse me, could you tell me how to get to…_ immediately followed by Chinese phrases he recognizes as swear words from the Chinese movies he used to watch to familiarize himself with the language.

He’s not sure if feelings count for the soulmate link, the textbooks were always vague about that - some said they do, some said they don’t. Still, Mingyu feels unreasonably excited at seeing his bus arrive and reading the destination with no trouble, even though he’s done that all his life.

He wonders.

*

“This is getting ridiculous.” Mingyu says, when Jihoon practically dives under his desk. To no one’s surprise, a minute later Jeon Wonwoo walks in the library, heading for his usual table. He gives Mingyu a funny look and Mingyu tries to give his best, professional, welcome-to-the-library smile. He looks down at Jihoon in his feet. “Listen, I’d be a lot more understanding of your irrational behaviour -” he looks at Wonwoo, who has his nose buried in yet another book that looks like it could kill a person if you hit them with it. “- if you didn’t magically need another history textbook every time Jeon Wonwoo is here.”

Jihoon glares at him. The fact that he’s still curled at Mingyu’s feet under his desk takes out some of the heat behind it. “I’m always here before him.”

Mingyu rolls his eyes. “We both know you’ve long since learned his library habits.”

“Fine,” Jihoon grits. “How about we make a deal. If you find your soulmate, I’ll go talk to Wonwoo.”

“Wait, which one?”

Jihoon grins, all sly. “The Chinese one.”

Mingyu thinks about how he’s sure this morning that particular soulmate was counting won in his head. He rolls his eyes at Jihoon again and hides his smirk. “Fine. You’re the only person I know this eager to be alone for the rest of his life.”

Jihoon kicks his shins, but looks otherwise pleased with himself. Mingyu manages to keep a perfectly straight face. He’s had years of being Jihoon’s friend to practise that particular life skill.

*

Jeonghan looks half dead when he shows up for their weekly breakfast, day carefully chosen so none of them have classes to go to.

Jihoon silently slides a cup of coffee towards him.

“Late night?” Mingyu asks, stirring his latte.

Jeonghan downs his entire cup before he even looks up. “More like, early morning. Again. Who knew trying to be a doctor required that much lack of sleep.”

“You did.” Seungkwan states, before kicking Hansol out to go order more coffee. And food - because they’re growing boys, despite all their professors saying things like _you’re adults now_ and _act like it_.

“Yeah, yeah,” Jeonghan waves a hand, before he uses it to steal some of Mingyu’s fries. “I’m pretty sure my soulmate is still in high school, I need a proper sugar daddy job.”

“I heard that,” Hansol says as he gets back. Everyone gives him questioning looks. Hansol shrugs. “Seungkwan just thought he wishes he had an older soulmate too.”

Jeonghan snorts. “It’s not that cool, trust me. Especially if you’re the older side of the relationship.”

“You make it sound like it’s awful.” Jihoon mutters.

“It’s not awful, it just takes a while to get used to the idea.” Jeonghan shrugs. “Anyway, did I tell you guys? I’m supposed to have a new roommate by the end of this week.”

“Oh?” Mingyu pipes up, “What happened to Seungcheol hyung?”

“Finally decided to move in with Jisoo,” Jeonghan starts before he’s interrupted by their food arriving. “And thank God, it was starting to feel like I’m living in a cheesy romance movie. If I hear one more song dedicated to Seungcheol I think I might combust.”

Jihoon snorts. “Such a grinch.”

“Look who’s talking.” Seungkwan snorts in return. By the sound of it, Jihoon kicks him under the table.

*

“Soo,” Jeonghan starts after all the food is gone and there’s a mountain of coffee cups on the table between them. “When are we initiating my new roommate into the group.”

Jihoon raises an eyebrow. “You don’t even know who your roommate is yet. Or when he’ll arrive.”

“And anyway,” Seungkwan adds, “we see you so rarely we’ll probably have to host a re-initiation party for you too.”

“And that’s a problem how?” Jeonghan asks. Hansol snickers. “And anyway, it’ll probably take me longer than it takes my hypothetical roommate to move in to find enough free time for a party. But God knows I need one.”

“Yes,” Mingyu pats his shoulder sympathetically, “yes, you do. Just find the time and text us, we’ll arrange everything.”

“Big words,” Jihoon says, just to be an ass.

Mingyu knows, however, that when it comes to it, Jihoon will probably make the whole thing happen by himself if he has to.

*

 _And I set fiyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah_ , screams Mingyu’s brain in a mind voice that he _knows_ is the Korean soulmate. He winces. He’s supposed to be watching a movie with Hansol, but it seems neither are paying much attention to the screen.

Still trying to ignore his Adele-wannabe soulmate screaming in his brain, Mingyu nudges Hansol. His eyes are on the screen, but they possess an emptiness that Mingyu has learned to recognize as ongoing soulmate telepathy.

“What’s he doing?” he asks when Hansol doesn't even flinch.

“Being difficult.” Hansol grits. “Naked.”

Mingyu slaps a hand over his eyes, like Seungkwan would somehow materialize in front of him sans clothes. “I could've lived my whole life without knowing you're having telepathy sex during our movie night.”

“That’s the thing,” Hansol replies, pained. “I’m not. It’s pretty one-sided.”

“Oh my god,” Mingyu cries. “Please stop.”

“You know what,” Hansol says, getting up. “I think it would be better if I just go.”

“You do that.” Mingyu replies, hand still over his eyes. “Tell Seungkwan I said hi.” When Hansol doesn’t answer for a few awkward, awkward seconds, he quickly backpedals, “On second thought, forget I said anything.”

Hansol laughs at him, but he’s scrambling for his coat as he does it, so it’s Mingyu who has the last laugh.

Or he would, if his soulmate wasn’t belting the last note of that damn song in his head.

*

Mingyu has never heard his Chinese soulmate masturbate. He’s had suspicions a few times, but the Chinese was always way too advanced for anything he could have understood.

Tonight, however. Tonight, it’s in Korean.

He knows for sure it’s not his actual Korean soulmate, he’s had flashes of them doing that a lot more than he’d like to admit, and this time the words are a little shaky, a little awkward.

It’s a show.

Mingyu is one hundred percent sure this is a show, why else would they make the effort to think all that in a foreign language? They are doing that with the sole hope that the link will project it to the other two.

It makes everything that much hotter.

Mingyu stares blankly at his wall and tries to tell himself jerking off to a person he doesn’t even know would be very, very weird.

Turns out, while their other soulmate likes to think about what they see in whatever it is they’re masturbating to, this one likes to think about how they _feel_ . In _a lot_ of detail. The stream of thoughts flickers, disappears for a few minutes, then starts again but Mingyu’s imagination fills in the gaps. He learns important things, too - like the fact that his Chinese soulmate has a dick and that his careful Korean becomes less and less careful, Chinese words slipping through the closer they are to the edge.

When it’s all over Mingyu hurries to power up his laptop, plays the first video he sees on pornhub and tries very hard to convince himself he watches it, that it’s the woman moaning on the screen he’s jerking off to, instead of a soundless voice in his head.

*

A tiny mountain of books lands on Mingyu’s desk and he looks up from his phone. Jeon Wonwoo blinks back at him, confused.

“Your assistant isn’t here today?”

Mingyu scrunches up his brows. “I don’t have an assistant.”

Wonwoo looks even more confused. “But there’s always this guy with you? Like, the...” he frowns. “The tiny one?”

Mingyu’s eyes widen. He almost bursts out laughing. “He’s not my assistant. He just likes hanging out here.”

“In the library?” Wonwoo looks surprised (maybe a little impressed). “He must like books a lot.”

Mingyu is two seconds from saying _no, he just likes you a lot_ , but Jihoon would probably castrate him. Instead, he says, “...yeah. I guess you could say that.”

“Maybe he could come hang out sometime? I mean, we’re both always here anyway. I could use some book enthusiasts in my life.” Wonwoo says all this offhandedly, like it’s no big deal. He even laughs a little (he has a nice laugh, Jihoon needs to be told that). Mingyu is dying on the inside.

“Sure, I’ll tell him.” he says, and hands Wonwoo his books.

Wonwoo nods a goodbye and he’s barely out the door before Mingyu picks his phone up again and texts Jihoon _you won’t believe what just happened!!!_

*

After an awkwardly long text conversation in which Mingyu is forced to recount each second of the encounter, Jihoon sends a, _SEND ME A LIST OF ALL THE BOOKS HE CHECKED OUT THIS YEAR ASAP!!!!!!!!!!_

Mingyu sighs, but still pulls up Wonwoo’s file on the computer, takes pictures (four, because this guy likes to _read_ ) and sends them away.

*

Jeonghan texts them that his new roommate is moving in on Thursday, and he has the Saturday entirely free, so Friday is the night.

They choose Seungkwan and Hansol’s tiny apartment because they’re the only ones who actually _live_ in an apartment and not in a shoe box sized dorm room. Jeonghan tells them to start whenever, he’ll show up around ten and they decide to wait for him but - Jeonghan is late and Jihoon brought nice alcohol, and - well.

By the time Jeonghan shows up with his new roommate, around midnight, Mingyu is very, very drunk. He’s still better than Hansol, though, who drank half the amount of alcohol Mingyu did and is already on that stage where no one is sure whether he is actually conscious anymore.

Jeonghan rolls his eyes when he sees them, Jihoon the only one looking relatively fine, but he’s always been good at acting.

“When I said ‘start whenever’, I was hoping there would be at least one sober person when we got here.”

“Hey,” Jihoon protests. Jeonghan raises his eyebrows at the cup in his hands. Jihoon pushes it in Mingyu’s hands. “Yeah, that’s not mine.”

Well, apparently Jihoon is worse than Mingyu thought. Or worse than he _would have_ thought, if he wasn’t too preoccupied with downing Jihoon’s tequila.

“Okay, if any of you assholes are still coherent enough, this is Minghao, my new roommate, he’s from China and very cute despite what he’d lead you to believe, be nice.”

Mingyu’s eyes finally land on the guy half hidden behind Jeonghan. He mutters “Hi,” and Mingyu waves back yelling his name - he can’t do much more, though, because Jihoon kicks him and he flops backwards on the couch.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to scream in my ear, asshole,” he grumbles. And then disappears, probably to get another cup.

When Mingyu straightens up, there’s something different, but his muddy brain doesn’t really register anything new about the room and he shrugs it off. His eyes find Minghao The Roommate again. He’s staring at Mingyu, this wide eyed, confused look and Mingyu grins at him. Then his eyes slide down and oh wow, Minghao The Roommate has really nice legs. Mingyu is kind of a sucker for guys in white skinnies and these do wonders for the Minghao dude, or maybe it’s just that he does wonders for the jeans instead?

Mingyu has a stray thought of, _oh my god, shut up_ and absently thinks _no_ , and would you look at that, is Minghao blushing? Maybe it’s the alcohol, Mingyu’s pretty sure he’s been tomato red for a while now, too.

 _Definitely the alcohol_ , his brain supplies. Mingyu shrugs and goes to find Jihoon, hopefully with the rest of the alcohol - they need to get Jeonghan and his new friend cups too, after all.

*

Mingyu wakes up on Hansol’s couch with a stiff neck and an insistent pain in his back. There’s definitely something different, something new, now that he’s not distracted by every shiny thing in the room (or every pair of nice legs) and... oh, right. Jeonghan’s new roommate.

There’s an extra weight when Mingyu tries to move and when he looks down, said roommate (Minghao?) is curled up next to him on the couch, head pillowed on his thighs. Mingyu startles when he realizes his hand is on Minghao’s head, fingers buried in his hair.

He lifts his hand, as carefully as possible and wonders how in the world is he going to get up without waking Minghao up.

 _Too late for that_ , says his brain in that quiet, awkward Korean except... except the voice is not soundless anymore.

Minghao shuffles in his lap and when Mingyu looks down, he’s staring right back at him. “Your thoughts are kind of really loud.”

“My -” Mingyu starts. _Oh_. “Oh,” he says aloud, too.

“Yeah.”

“What even happened last night?” Mingyu asks. He remembers meeting Minghao, but nothing much beyond that.

Minghao grins. “You made me dance to Hot Pink and declared we’re getting married when you saw I knew the actual choreography?”

“Oh god.”

 _It was cute_ , Minghao says in his head.

“Wait,” Mingyu starts, remembering the - the detailed thought process he’d had about Minghao’s legs. _Did we have the link like this for the whole night?_

Minghao blushes. It’s adorable. “Fuck you,” Minghao says and proceeds to pinch Mingyu’s side.

“Dude, ouch!”

 _But yeah_ , Minghao continues, _we had it._ _You had a lot of opinions about my limbs_.

Mingyu has a feeling he’s the one who’s blushing now. ( _Yeah, you are._ ) “Fuck off, you were the one who did the -” wrong move. His brain fills with memories of _that_ night.

Minghao sputters. “So that went through. Good to know.”

“Yup.” Mingyu replies. He’s still trying to fight the flood of memories and Minghao is growing redder and redder.

He finally gets up, his back to Mingyu. “We really need to learn how to block each other’s thoughts.”

“Yup.” Mingyu says again. Oh well.

*

Mingyu stares at the ceiling of his dorm room. He and Minghao exchanged numbers before they left for their respective dorms this morning although he thinks it was rather useless, considering they literally have a telepathic soulmate link.

Minghao has had this quiet stream of thoughts in Chinese for a while now and Mingyu kind of wants to ask him about it. He also kind of just wants to talk to him, but - he doesn’t really dare.

_You know I can hear your thoughts, right? Like, all of them._

Mingyu startles. _Right. Sorry._

 _It’s okay,_ and it’s weird, how Minghao’s voice hasn’t changed much even though Mingyu knows how it sounds now. _I kind of wanted to talk to you too._

 _Not fair,_ Mingyu pouts hoping it shows through the link somehow ( _It does_ , Minghao says, words tingling in a weird way that Mingyu will learn to recognize as smiling) _You at least can think in a language I barely understand._

 _Not my problem._ Minghao says. _I didn’t know Korean either._ Mingyu barely has time to let the wave of guilt hit him, before Minghao adds, _Hey no._ _This wasn’t meant to be a guilt trip, I don’t blame you for it_.

Mingyu allows it to calm him for a bit, ignoring the bits of hurt flying through the link. Instead, he says, _Have you heard something from the other person?_

_I - don’t know. You’re both usually so loud, but I’ve been kinda hyperfocused on you since last night…_

_Same._ Mingyu sighs. _Wait, what do you mean loud? You said that before too - that was a memorable first sentence in Korean by the way._

 _What first sentence?_ Minghao asks. Mingyu imagines he’d sound curious if he was there, with him.

_I don’t remember exactly, it was something about how loud me and the other person are and how you regret being linked to us?_

_Uh._ Minghao’s train of thought switches to Chinese again and Mingyu frowns at the wall. _I’m kinda sorry that was the first thing you heard but I’m also kinda not._

_What were the other things?_

_No_. Minghao says, and the determination is so strong Mingyu thinks he feels it too. _I’d rather keep my dignity, thank you._

 _Tell me, tell me, t-t-t-t-tell me_ , Mingyu sings and he thinks he can hear Minghao laughing.

 _This is what I meant when I said you were loud. You both are kind of, I don’t know - I could barely focus on anything during the flashes, it made daily life an experience._ Minghao doesn’t say anything for a while. Then, _My friend thinks I had more flashes than usual because you were so far away - kind of like fate’s way of saying sorry for alienating me from my own soulmates?_

 _Hey_ , Mingyu starts _We didn’t -_

Minghao doesn’t let him finish. _I know. I heard. Thank you. I hope I can thank them someday too._

_Maybe they can hear us now?_

Minghao is quiet for some time. Then, his next words are tingling again.

_Thank you._

*

 _Fuck_ , Mingyu shouts. Probably. He would’ve shouted, if he was talking aloud. _The bet!_

 _I really need to learn how to block out your thoughts_ , Minghao grumbles. _What bet?_

Mingyu laughs. _You’ll see._

*

He picks up Minghao from his dorm (after they’ve made sure Jeonghan is gone) - Minghao keeps demanding it wasn’t needed, he knows how to get to the café, _for fuck’s sake Mingyu._  Still, Mingyu wants to be a gentleman, has these whole scenarios in his head that Minghao rolls his eyes at, but doesn’t really protest.

At the café, both Jihoon and Jeonghan give them looks - Jihoon’s a little judgemental, this is their designated breakfast time, after all. Jeonghan just looks curious.

“I did ask you if you wanted to come with,” he tells Minghao.

“I kinda had plans?” Minghao replies and his brain floods with o _h god did I just ruin my roommate relationship a week into living with him_ \- _Shh_ , Mingyu tells him. _He’s not actually mad_.

“Okaaaaaaaaaay.” Mingyu announces, taking his usual place and tugging Minghao next to him. Seungkwan raises an eyebrow. “I’d like you all to meet Minghao.”

“You do realize we met him already on Friday, right?” Hansol says.

“Right.” Seungkwan snorts. “Pretty sure you were passed out when that happened, but okay.”

“No, guys.” Mingyu says again, to Minghao’s utter discomfort. “I’d like you all to _meet Minghao_. As you might already know, Minghao is Chinese.”

 _Do you have to be so dramatic?_ Minghao asks in his brain.

Mingyu grins. _Yup_.

Jeonghan is narrowing his eyes at them, but it’s Seungkwan who speaks up. “Yes, we- oh. _Oh._ ”

The horror slowly settling on Jihoon’s face is hilarious.

“But what -” Hansol gets cut off by Seungkwan’s elbow in his side. “Oh. Ooh. Congratulations!”

 _This is very awkward_ , Minghao says through the link. _Also, what’s with the sho- uh, Jihoon’s? Anyway, what’s with his face?_

_See, we had this bet-_

“Stop doing that.” Jeonghan breaks Mingyu’s concentration. “I know you just found each other and everything but we’re still here.”

“Sorry.” Minghao mutters and Mingyu nods too, a blush crawling up his cheeks.

Jeonghan sighs. “I swear, it’s like I’m some sort of magical soulmate finder or whatever. Everyone who moves in with me suddenly finds theirs - first Seungcheol, now him. I’m destined to never have a long term roommate.”

“Sorry,” Minghao mutters again, but Jeonghan laughs.

“It’s fine. I’m happy for you.”

*

“You know who won’t have to move in with you?” Mingyu asks Jeonghan some time later.

Jeonghan looks up from his pancakes. “Who?”

Mingyu grins, slow and self-satisfied. “Jihoon.”

Jihoon chokes on his coffee.

*

Mingyu gets “Lonely” stuck in his head. He knows the song well, so the voice belting out _Baby I’m so lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely_ \- sounds a lot like Minzy’s. Still, he knows that it isn’t, and not just because he can hear the song playing in Minghao’s mind as well.  

 _I’ve been thinking about what Jeonghan hyung said,_  he tells Minghao.

_I know. I can read your mind, remember?_

Mingyu sighs. _What do you think then?_

 _It’s kind of true_ . Minghao replies, a feeling of comfort washing over the link. Mingyu smiles. _We’ve been a bit preoccupied with each other lately._

 _I haven’t been paying a lot of attention to them since we met,_  Mingyu admits softly.

 _Yeah,_ Minghao says. _Me too._ There’s guilt flowing through the link now, so it’s Mingyu who tries to send the comfort this time.

*

_Fuck, I think I’m in love._

“Did you hear that?” Minghao asks aloud. They’ve been practising blocking each other out, finally - they haven’t said anything to each other through the link since they met up a few hours earlier.

Mingyu looks up. “Hear what?”

“I think I heard our other soulmate.”

“Oh.” Mingyu replies. “Well, that answers the question of whether we hear the same things. Hey,” he adds. “Can I show you something?”

Minghao raises his eyebrows. “Okay?”

*

Mingyu leads him through the underpass with the glass domes. It’s late afternoon, but not late enough for people to be out of work yet - it’s almost quiet. They stand under one of the domes, looking up at the sky above.

“It makes me feel like world is endless, you know? Like I’m a speck of dust and everything is possible. Like I’m free. Kinda weird,” Mingyu laughs, “that I have to go underground, under a piece of thick glass to feel free. But the sunlight is so pretty.”

“It is,” Minghao smiles.

“I met them here once.” Mingyu continues softly. Minghao whips his head around, staring at him. “I was in a hurry and they were outside, looking through the glass. By the time I ran out there, they were gone.”

“Oh.” Minghao says. “Do you want to stay here? There’s still some time until the rush hour starts.”

“Okay.”

Mingyu kind of wants to sit there, on the ground under the sun - but there are still people passing through. So they just stand there, looking up at the sky until the stream of people becomes so thick they have to squeeze their way back outside.

*

“No.” Jihoon states.

Mingyu pouts. “You promised!”

“You can’t prove that.” Jihoon says, voice flat.

“I have a witness.” Mingyu tugs Minghao close and slings a hand over his shoulders. “He can read my mind and that includes memories.”

Minghao rolls his eyes. “Please don’t use me as an advantage over your friends.”

“See!” Jihoon throws his hands up, then grins at Minghao. “This is why I like you.”

“Hyung, come on.” Mingyu pleads. “You promised. How could I trust you ever again if you back out now?”

Jihoon sighs. “The second we start talking the link will open.”

“So what?” Minghao adds, speaking up for the first time. “You’re going to meet him eventually, wouldn’t it be better if it was on your terms?”

Jihoon sighs again. “Where did you find a soulmate with actual brain cells, I thought soulmates were supposed to suit each other.”

Minghao laughs. Mingyu pouts. “Rude. But if it convinces you to finally go talk to Wonwoo, I’ll take it.”

“Fine.” Jihoon says. “Just - give me a few days to prepare, okay?”

Mingyu is about to argue but - _Don’t,_  Minghao says in his mind. _It’s his potential life partner we’re talking about, let him get used to the idea._

 _He’s had so much time though,_  Mingyu argues.

_Not everyone is as easy going as you are. I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to talk to you either, if I was in Jihoon oppa’s position._

_Hyung,_ Mingyu says automatically.

_What?_

_It’s hyung, not oppa._  Mingyu grins when he feels the realization wash over Minghao. His cheeks are bright red.

Jihoon looks between them with narrowed eyes. “What’s going on?”

“Minghao has a-” Mingyu manages to squeak out, before Minghao’s palm slaps over his mouth.

“Nothing,” he says frantically. “Minghao has nothing, didn’t you promise Seungkwan you’ll make him dinner tonight? Better get going so you have enough time, see you later Jihoon hyung.”

Mingyu starts laughing the second Minghao’s hand is off his face, although by that time they’re far, far away from Jihoon already.

*

“So remember Soonyoung?” Jeonghan asks next time he actually shows up for a movie-pizza night.

Hansol frowns. “Who?”

“One half from that couple in the performing arts department that keeps doing cheesy mating dances for every showcase ever?”

“Oh, right!” Seungkwan exclaims. “Didn’t you live with them for a while?”

“Yes.” Jeonghan shudders. “They’re great guys but boy were they _loud_. I learned some very interesting words in Chinese while living with them.”

Minghao perks up at this. “Chinese?”

“Oh yeah,” Mingyu says, “Soonyoung hyung’s soulmate is Chinese too, right?”

“Yeah,” Jeonghan replies, “his name is Junhui. But anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. So me and Soonyoung are still friends, sort of, and we met up for coffee a while ago. He was with this dude, Seokmin, who I think I accidentally made friends with? Like, he hasn’t stopped texting me since we met.”

Seungkwan whistles. “Friends, you say. Are you sure there isn’t anything more?”

“Dude,” Jeonghan says, “I barely have time to eat, I definitely don’t have the emotional capacity to hold a relationship. But he’s cute, I kinda want to adopt him.”

“So when are you introducing him to us?” Hansol asks, eyes bright.

“Never.” Jeonghan deadpans. “You already ruined my poor roommate, I’m not giving you Seokmin too.”

“Hey,” Minghao says. “I’m perfectly fine.”

Jeonghan snorts. “Right. Didn’t you switch Hansol’s water with vinegar yesterday?”

Hansol scrunches up his nose, the memory of the healthy gulp of vinegar probably still haunting him. Mingyu narrows his eyes. “You weren’t even there. How do you know?”

“I have my ways.” Jeonghan replies, a cryptic smirk on his lips.

“Can’t deny it was funny, though.” Minghao says, grinning.

“See?” Jeonghan shakes his head, “Ruined.”

*

_Fucking hell I can’t even drown my loneliness in fancy bath bombs why won’t you fill you absolute asshole?!_

_Uh_ . Mingyu says to Minghao. _Are they talking about bathtubs?_

 _Possibly_ , Minghao replies. _You know, he starts again, a little later, I’ve been getting flashes of singing again. I had no idea there were so many songs with the word “lonely” in them. Do you thing they google them?_

 _I haven’t heard much. At all._ Mingyu hopes the bitterness doesn’t show through the link. The immediate waves of comfort that follow prove that it does.

_You know I’ve always been more sensitive towards you two than you are towards me. I guess that goes for your link with them too._

_I know, I’m sorry._

_It’s okay,_ is what Minghao says, but Mingyu can feel the underlying guilt.

*

_Listen you terrible, terrible people. Actually you might not listen, who even knows how this thing works. It would be really funny if you don’t and I’m having all these mental monologues like an insane person. So funny. Really. But if you do..._

_Can you hear this?_ Minghao asks.

Mingyu has frozen with the toothbrush half hanging from his mouth. They’ve parted ways a few hours earlier, and they were both supposed to be in bed but, of course, they got talking. _Yeah. Yeah, I can._

_...If you do, you should know I hate both of you. You’re awful and - and -_

Their thought process stops and stutters, slurs, and Mingyu thinks - is this what drunk thoughts sound like?

_You make me feel awful, okay? Okay? But I really wish we could meet so I would stop feeling awful. Because I can hear all the pretty things you think about each other - well, probably not all, but I hear enough, and I just - I just…_

The stream of thoughts cuts off. Mingyu waits for it to pick up again, but it doesn’t. He thinks _fuck_ , and is somewhat startled when Minghao echoes it back.

*

Wonwoo looks incredibly smug the next time he shows up with a stack of books for Mingyu to check out. Mingyu wants to ask if Jihoon has talked to him yet, but if Jihoon hasn’t - well, that would bring a fuckload of trouble and death threats Mingyu doesn’t feel like dealing with.

“You gave him a list of the books I’ve read.” Wonwoo says, still smug. There goes the question of whether or not Jihoon has manned the fuck up.

“I did.” Mingyu says cryptically. Or tries to, anyway. Wonwoo grins wider.

“I think I have to buy you a coffee or something,” he says, still grinning, but there’s sincerity in his eyes. “Who knows how long it would’ve taken him if it weren’t for you.”

Mingyu laughs. “Did you actually know it was him?”

“I suspected,” Wonwoo shrugs. “I wasn’t a hundred percent sure, though, and by the near-panic attacks I got as flashes of his thoughts, I figured it would be better if I let him come to me on his own.”

Mingyu might be a little impressed. “That’s - that’s good. I think you’d suit him.”

Wonwoo actually blushes, then gets that faraway look that people get when they’re using their soulmate links and - Wonwoo blushes harder.

Mingyu raises a hand. “I don’t wanna know, here are your books, please go be sappy somewhere else, thanks.”

Wonwoo flips him off before he goes away. It feels suspiciously a lot like that time in third grade when Jihoon threatened to stab Mingyu with all of his pencils, right before Mingyu made a permanent spot for himself next to Jihoon at lunch and proclaimed them best friends forever.

*

Mingyu wakes up to thoughts that aren’t his or Minghao’s.

_That’s so fucking cute oh my god._

His first instinct is to prod Minghao’s thoughts, see if he’s awake, let him listen if he isn’t already - but he doesn’t. A look at his bedside clock tells him it’s 9am on a Saturday and he tells himself Minghao is still asleep, he won’t be happy if Mingyu wakes him up. The truth, however, is that a small, petty part of him wants to keep this to himself, wants to keep the other one to himself like fate has apparently kept most of their thoughts just for Minghao’s mind to hear.

_Was he hitting on me? Or maybe he was hitting on Jeonghan hyung, I mean, he’s kind of really pretty._

Mingyu shoots up straight in his bed. There are a lot of people with that name, he tries to tell himself. Calm down. He lets his soulmate’s thoughts flow through his link with Minghao.

_But why would he buy me coffee if he was hitting on Jeonghan hyung? Of course, because Jeonghan hyung already bought one… I wish I liked coffee more, now I feel kind of bad._

_You’re being loud again_ , comes Minghao’s voice in his head, half-coherent and fuzzy.

Mingyu smiles. _It wasn’t me, sorry._ _Did you just wake up?_

 _Yes. It was your fault, too. Wait, what do you mean it wasn’t you? Was it…?_ The thoughts are getting clearer and clearer until Mingyu can hear a stray _Shit, we’re out of toothpaste again_.

 _Yup. I had flashes. Of... you know._ Mingyu says hesitantly. He can feel the surprise colouring Minghao’s mind.

_What happened?_

Mingyu takes a deep breath. _They mentioned a “Jeonghan hyung”. I might be freaking out a little right now._

Minghao is silent for a few moments. _There could be a lot of Jeonghans running around the country._

 _You’re right,_ Mingyu nods, before he remembers Minghao can’t actually _see_ him. _But I know for a fact that they’re here, in Seoul - or at least were. I think they’re here. I think I can feel them here. Maybe…_

 _Let’s not get our hopes up, okay?_ Minghao says, but Mingyu can feel the nervous excitement in his gut mirrored in Minghao’s thoughts. It’s like a constant pressure on his thoughts and, subsequently, on Mingyu’s.

_Okay. We’ll just - we’ll see what happens._

Minghao’s thoughts tingle in that way that means he’s smiling, so Mingyu smiles too, before he cuts the link off and drifts back to sleep.

*

In the end, fate finds a way, like it always does, and neither Mingyu nor Minghao have anything to do with it - although, not for lack of trying. (“I swear, how hard could it be to catch your own roommate for a casual interrogation about whether or not there have been any free coffees in his life recently?” “Med students, man.”).

In the end, a tall, gangly dude with a smile that makes Mingyu think of Colgate ads (and maybe sunshine and rainbows, _a little_ ) trails after Jeonghan for their weekly breakfast. He introduces himself as Seokmin and Mingyu’s brain promptly fills with a hundred thoughts all at once, the most prominent of them being _Why is everyone here so damn pretty?!_

Minghao blinks next to him, speechless. His thoughts are quiet and Mingyu wonders how, before he remembers they still have the link closed as per the “no telepathy during group socialization” rule that he’s sure only they actually follow.

Seokmin still doesn’t seem to have realized what’s happening. Maybe in shutting out each other they’re shutting out Seokmin too? Mingyu has no idea how three-way telepathy actually works.

He chances a quiet, _Hey_ , in Seokmin’s direction. The flood of thoughts suddenly stops, replaced by a shiny, loud, _Fuck_.

There’s a collective silence on the table. Jeonghan sighs. “What did I say about mental links when we’re all together?” He points at Mingyu. “Not cool, man, not cool.”

Mingyu swallows loudly. “I…”

 _Is this real?_ Comes the third voice in his head. It now has sound, much like Minghao’s did that morning.

Minghao nods. A second later he thinks a quiet _Hi_.

Seungkwan’s looking between the three of them with increasingly narrowed eyes. Mingyu has a feeling if Jihoon was there instead of having ditched them for Wonwoo ( _again_ ) he’d already be onto them, making fun of them. Seungkwan nudges Jeonghan and points at Seokmin, who’s still frozen next to him. Hansol’s eyes widen in realization.

When Jeonghan eventually catches on, he throws his hands up, muttering, “For fuck’s sake, I’ll start charging people, it’ll be a fucking blooming business.”

Hansol bursts out laughing and that’s what finally breaks the tension. Mingyu grins and Minghao follows, his smile softer, and are those tears in Seokmin’s eyes?

Nevermind the tension, now Mingyu has “My Heart Will Go On” stuck in his brain.

*

Seokmin’s thoughts are a mess.

There are just so many, and he has yet to learn how to keep them to himself, how to build walls. There are too many for Mingyu to make sense of more than a sentence at a time, things like _I can’t believe it has finally happened_ and _What if I’m the third wheel now_ and _Shit I’m so scared_. There are enough for Seokmin’s thoughts to meld into a loud, frantic background noise in Mingyu’s brain. Unlike Seokmin, however, Mingyu can block them. It’s just that - he doesn’t want to.

He has a feeling Minghao hasn’t blocked Seokmin either, even though for the past twenty minutes he’s been trying to teach him how to control his side of the link better.

It’s a novelty, having a constant third voice inside your brain and Mingyu thinks how they’ll have to learn to work together so they don’t go insane. It’s going to be a struggle, what with how loud both Seokmin and Mingyu are, and how Minghao struggles with his filters each time he’s nervous or excited.

“I’m sorry,” Seokmin says, flinching away when Minghao reaches to touch his cheek. His hand falls at Seokmin’s knee instead. “You’re probably flooded with my idiocy right now. And I fail epically at learning how to stop it.”

Minghao smiles. “You forget _we_ can.”

“Are you?” Seokmin asks quietly. He’s smiling, but it doesn’t reach his eyes.

“Nope,” Mingyu replies cheerfully. At least half of the cheer is a little forced, but they finally found each other. All three of them. This is supposed to be happy, not an emo fest. “At least I’m not, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t either.”

Minghao nods. “It’s nice to finally be able to talk to you, whether mentally or out loud.”

“Really?” Seokmin asks, disbelief colouring his voice. His thoughts calm down a little. There’s a shiny, bright, _Maybe_ ringing in his head. Mingyu smiles and Seokmin’s eyes snap to him, thinking _Wow, he’s so beautiful_. His face colours immediately. “You… You heard that, didn’t you?”

“Yup,” Mingyu laughs. Seokmin buries his face in his hands.

Minghao pats him on the back. “Don’t worry, when we first met he wouldn’t stop thinking about my legs for the entire damn night. It even became explicit eventually, it was terrible.”

“Excuse you,” Mingyu squeaks, cheeks flaming. Seokmin looks between them curiously. “I’m not the one who basically projected porn befo-” Minghao’s hand slaps over Mingyu’s mouth, but it’s too late. Seokmin’s thoughts are a flurry of _fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck_ and his face is as red as Mingyu’s probably is.

“Yeah,” he chokes out. “I kinda heard that too.”

Minghao’s other hand slaps over Seokmin’s mouth but it does nothing to stop the now doubled stream of memories. “How about we never speak of this again. Ever.”

*

Seokmin is an adorable bundle of _loud_.

 _Not louder than you are_ , Minghao never fails to remind Mingyu each time he leaves his walls down.

Still, Seokmin has complete lack of brain to… well, brain filter (Mingyu’s inner Minghao rolls his eyes) leads to a quite a bit - _situations_.

Like that time Minghao shows up in these super tight, ripped white jeans. They’re the same ones Mingyu first saw him in, and much like him Seokmin’s thoughts go from 0 to 100 in a heartbeat. It says a lot that Minghao has no visible reaction save for the faint, almost invisible blush on the tops of his cheeks. Seokmin, however, looks extremely uncomfortable, thoughts increasingly frantic, so Mingyu takes pity on him by taking down his walls and projecting to everyone as well. After all, his thoughts on Minghao’s jeans now aren’t much different from what they were the first time. Or from Seokmin’s.

Minghao lets a single _I hate both of you so much_ float through his own walls.

*

“This is really weird,” Seokmin tells Mingyu on the train one day, about a week after they met.

“What is,” Mingyu asks. On habit, he expects the answer to flood his brain before Seokmin’s words do, but Seokmin has been getting better at controlling his thoughts.

He motions between them. “Us. The three of us, I mean.”

Mingyu snorts. “Weird how? Apart from the fact that we literally cannot have secrets from each other?”

“Exactly!” Seokmin exclaims. “I know we’re soulmates and all, but it’s really weird to know things about you that you’ve never told me. Maybe thing you wouldn’t want to tell me - I just…” he trails off, looking up. Mingyu follows his eyes - there’s something that looks suspiciously a lot like a coffee stain on the ceiling. “I just feel like a stalker sometimes.” Seokmin finishes, eyes still on the stain.

“We’ve kinda been stalking each other since we were born, though.” Mingyu points out.

Seokmin sighs and finally meets his eyes again. “Yeah, but now it’s just...”

“It’s just quiet.” Mingyu finishes for him.

“That’s because we’re blocking each other out.” Seokmin frowns.

“Which we do when we don’t want people in our brains, right?” Seokmin nods reluctantly, so Mingyu continues. “We’re all on the same boat here. I know things I shouldn’t have known about you, and I’m sure Minghao does as well. It’s not so much stalking as it is - forced trust, I guess. But that’s what soulmates are for, right? Someone you should be able to trust. Think of it as an extreme form of blind dating.”

Seokmin tilts his head, thinking. “That’s a weird way to put it. But I guess you’re right?”

“Of course I am,” Mingyu grins. He ruffles Seokmin’s hair but his hand is swatted away. “Rude,” Mingyu says, but he’s grinning. Seokmin is grinning, too.

*

As much as Seokmin tries to hide it from them (not all that successfully, given the circumstances), they all know he still feels like an outsider sometimes. Minghao proposes movie nights as a solution.

Now, while Seokmin is not necessarily a cryer, they quickly find out he cries rather easily, except at the weirdest things. Main character dies dramatically after years of fighting a disease? Seokmin’s eyes are dry as the desert. A single shot of said character’s cat curled up on someone’s couch in the epilogue? The tissues will never be enough.

Minghao is quite sensitive as well, even if he likes to play tough more often than not (they are, for all intents and purposes, in his brain so Mingyu has no idea why he even tries).

During movies like today’s, with the cat, Mingyu is moved, although not necessary emotional, so he keeps a constant wave of comfort directed at his soulmates instead.

“Okay,” Seokmin sniffles when the ending credits roll, “how do you do that?”

Minghao looks up. “Do what?”

 _I was talking to Mingyu,_ Seokmin thinks. Annoyance trickles in from Minghao’s side and they all feel it. _No!_ Seokmin adds quickly, _I didn’t mean it like that! Actually, that’s exactly what I’m talking about. The…_

There’s silence for a few awkward seconds. Then, a very faint feeling of discomfort. It’s more like a memory of a feeling, really.

“See!” Seokmin says aloud, with a huff. “How do you send feelings through the link? I’ve tried doing that but that’s the most I can do.”

Minghao tilts his head. “I’ve always been able to do it. I mean, after I first met Mingyu. I thought it’s just normal? I know the textbooks aren’t exactly set on one opinion when it comes to this, but I figured it’s just something that’s less explored. Like three-way links.” He laughs quietly.

Seokmin frowns. “But why can’t I do it? You,” he points at Mingyu, “you can do it, too. Like you just did.”

“I’ve never really thought about it either,” Mingyu shrugs. “It was mostly me copying Minghao at the beginning.”

Seokmin’s frown deepens.

“But you can communicate colors?” Minghao says hesitantly.

“Uh,” Seokmin says intelligently. “If you’re doing this to make me feel less shitty about this -”

“No, no,” Mingyu adds. “Your thoughts have, how do I put it, images? Like they are colorful sometimes, or just really shiny, depending on your mood. You’ve probably noticed, Minghao’s thoughts tingle when he’s happy. And yours sort of glitter?”

“My thoughts glitter.” Seokmin repeats. disbelieving.

“Yeah,” Minghao smiles. “It’s really pretty. Mingyu’s thoughts tingle too, sometimes. Although it’s not very strong.”

“Hey,” Mingyu pouts. “What are you trying to tell me?” His mind immediately fills with apologies from Seokmin’s side and quiet comfort from Minghao’s. He laughs. “No, no, stop bombarding me, I was joking.”

“I still don’t get this, honestly.” Seokmin says eventually, shifting so he has his head on Minghao’s shoulder and his legs in Mingyu’s lap. “But I’m really happy I have your voices in my head now. Full time, I mean.” _I’m just glad I finally met you._ Minghao threads his fingers through Seokmin’s hair and Mingyu places a hand on his knee. Seokmin hums happily.

 _Me too_ , Mingyu tells them. There’s glitter and quiet, intense happiness in his head now - maybe in his heart too.

It definitely won’t always be that easy, not with two different people with him at all times but right now... right now, it’s perfect.


End file.
